


follow the sun

by carissima



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, IT'S SO FLUFFY, M/M, Weddings, and that's saying something, possibly the most ridiculous thing i've ever written
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-19
Updated: 2014-11-19
Packaged: 2018-02-26 07:53:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2644064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carissima/pseuds/carissima
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zayn needs a date to his cousin's wedding. Niall's ready, willing and available to be his plus one.</p><p>Or the one where Zayn and Niall are pretend boyfriends and it goes exactly how you think it goes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	follow the sun

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Mahima because she's a whiny brat but here, have 4K of pretend!boyfriends as requested. There's no angst but there is gratuitous fluff and touching and cuddling, obviously. Also, I've never written Ziall before so you know, MY VERY SINCEREST APOLOGIES if it's terrible?

Zayn groans as his phone vibrates again. It's been going off all night and he gave up reading the texts coming through about an hour ago.

"Everything alright then?" Niall asks idly from where he's lying on Zayn's sofa, guitar in hand as he slowly strums through their entire back catalogue. He's doing a slow, acoustic version of _Rock Me_ that Zayn actually prefers to the album version. There's a growing pile of empty beer bottles on the floor that are mostly Niall's but Zayn's had a few in a vain attempt to mellow his mood.

It's not working.

"My mum," Zayn says as he picks up his phone and spins it around slowly in his hands. "My cousin's getting married in two weeks and I'm invited to the reception. She's worried about me."

Niall's hands pause mid-strum and Zayn closes his eyes as Niall huffs out a strained "Oh. Oh fuck."

"Yeah," Zayn mutters. "Exactly."

"It's been three months though," Niall says eventually. He sounds more hopeful than convinced, like he's waiting for Zayn to confirm that yes, three months is long enough for him to be over being jilted by his fiancée and no, he's _not_ going to turn up to his cousin's wedding crying over Perrie or whatever his mum is picturing going wrong.

"She worries," Zayn says miserably. The truth is she's been worrying more than ever in the three months it's been since Perrie handed him back his ring with tears rolling down her beautiful cheeks before she packed her bags and left their home. And she's not the only one, as Niall spends more time at Zayn's house keeping him company than he does in his own home. And if Niall's not here, then one of the other lads are and Harry calls every day without fail from LA. Twice, sometimes.

Niall starts strumming again, segueing into _I Would_. Niall hums the first verse before he sits up suddenly, guitar forgotten as he stares at Zayn.

"What?" Zayn asks self-consciously. Niall just keeps staring at him though and Zayn's about to throw his phone at Niall to get his attention when Niall's lips curve into a wicked grin.

"You should take a date," Niall says. Zayn rolls his eyes and flops back against the sofa. "I'm being serious, Zayn. Your mum will stop worrying if she thinks you've got a date and your family can stop fussing. It's perfect!"

"Except I don't have a date, Niall." Zayn says it slowly because he wonders if Niall's had a few too many beers to be thinking straight. "And no time to get a date, at least not one I'd want to take to meet my family at a big event. There's gonna be like, at least two hundred people there."

"Sounds like a proper party," Niall says cheerfully. "And you're taking me. As your date."

Zayn laughs. "Yeah alright."

"That's settled then," Niall says, sounding satisfied and he picks up his guitar again.

"Wait," Zayn says, turning over so he can look at Niall properly from where he's lounging on the other sofa. The sofa Perrie used to curl up on whenever she fancied a nap on a Sunday afternoon. "Niall. You're not being serious."

"Course I am," Niall scoffs like _Zayn's_ being the weird one. "It's perfect!"

"Niall." Zayn rubs his temple where he feels a headache forming. "You can come as my plus one. But like, you can't come as my date."

"Why the fuck not?" Niall asks reasonably. Zayn thinks he's strumming the Wedding March now because he's a sneaky little shit but he can't hear properly over the pounding in his head.

"Because, thanks to us being a pretty famous band, the entire world knows we're not dating," Zayn points out. "Because we've been mates for five years. Because you like girls. Do you want me to go on?"

"You never heard of friends falling for each other then?" Niall asks calmly. He looks smug though, and Zayn's still tempted to throw his phone at Niall's stupid, pretty face. "Be easy enough to pull it off, I reckon. We already know everything about each other. And I like girls just fine, but I'm not opposed to boys, Zayn. That's so narrow-minded of you."

"Fuck off," Zayn says easily because Niall knows that Zayn's been with guys before Perrie.

"So we tell your parents that it's new and we're not publicising it," Niall says simply like he's not planning a ridiculous con on Zayn's family. "Because of Perrie and whatever. I'll grab your arse in front of them and we'll cuddle a bit."

"And how, exactly, is that different from how we usually are then?" Zayn asks, fighting amusement. It's a ridiculous idea. His family are never going to fall for it. He'd be an idiot to even consider it.

But it would be nice to have Niall there for moral support, he reckons.

Zayn's phone vibrates again and Niall just grins at him, the bastard.

"Fine," Zayn says quickly and grabs his phone. "But when it all backfires, I'm telling them it was your stupid idea."

Zayn ignores every text his mum has filled his inbox with and types out his own.

**Bringing a date. It's early days though so keeping it lowkey. Stop worrying about me x**

He then throws his phone at the wall and feels a deep satisfaction as he watches his phone smash and shatter onto the floor, completely broken.

"Feel better then?" Niall asks dryly.

"Loads," Zayn murmurs as he folds his arms behind his head and closes his eyes, his lips curving into a small smile.

*

"Stop fussing," Niall says, smacking Zayn's hands away from his tie.

Zayn sends him a wounded look before he shoves his hands in the pockets of his own suit and hunches down lower in his seat.

"It'll be fine," Niall tells him in a softer tone. He reaches over and pulls on Zayn's arm until his hand is free and Niall clasps their hands together. "Just breathe."

"This was a stupid idea," Zayn mutters but he does as he's told and concentrates on breathing in and out. They're stuck in traffic in their hired car but they're not late. Yet.

"Well you're definitely not gonna get a cheeky snog with that attitude," Niall tells him solemnly. "I don't care how handsome you look in that suit."

Zayn huffs out a laugh and the pressure eases on his chest a little. "Sorry," he says belatedly.

"Nope, still no snogs," Niall says. "Not until you've told me how pretty I am and bought me at least three pints."

"You're a cheap date," Zayn teases him.

"Sad but true," Niall says on an exaggerated sigh.

The car starts moving again and Zayn squeezes Niall's hand helplessly.

"Look, we'll get drunk, dance a bit, flirt and touch each other slightly inappropriately and in a few weeks, you can tell your mum that we decided we're better as mates," Niall says. His knee nudges against Zayn's. "Nothing to worry about."

Zayn lets his head drop onto Niall's shoulder and he resists the urge to climb into Niall's lap and have a proper cuddle. It'd wrinkle his carefully pressed suit. Neither of them say anything until the car pulls up at the venue. It's an old country house set completely back from the road in a tiny little village in the Midlands, completely off any paparazzi radar.

Zayn reluctantly lets go of Niall and climbs out of the car, stretching his legs as he pulls on his jacket and moves around to where Niall's standing and admiring the mansion.

"Pretty posh," Niall decides as he smoothes down his shirt and shrugs into his jacket. "You know how to spoil a boy, Zayn."

"Only the best for you, babe," Zayn murmurs, pleased with Niall beams at him. He slides his hand into Niall's bigger one, feeling better when Niall's hand curls around his. "You look very handsome, by the way."

"Of course I do," Niall says easily. "Gotta make a good impression on the future in-laws, haven't I?"

Zayn groans as he drops his head onto Niall's shoulder but it quickly turns into laughter as Niall rubs his back soothingly. "You don't have to worry though because I happen to know that your mum adores me," Niall tells him in a mock whisper.

"She adores you as my bandmate who doesn't stop going on about how great her cooking is," Zayn points out.

"Fucking amazing cook, your mum," Niall murmurs dreamily, quite possibly lost in the memory of a samosa.

"She might not love you as my rebound boyfriend," Zayn continues as if Niall hadn't spoken.

"Quit worrying, boyfriend-of-mine," Niall says as he starts towards the front door, tugging Zayn along behind him. "I'm fucking great with parents. And sisters. And cousins."

Huffing out a silent, vaguely worried sigh, Zayn reminds himself it's too late to back out now and speeds up a little so he's walking next to Niall rather than behind. If he's really going to try and sell Niall as his boyfriend, no matter _how_ ridiculous it sounds, then he's going to give it his all.

He tightens his hold on Niall's hand until he's sure he must be hurting Niall but Niall doesn't make a sound as they walk down the hall towards the room where the reception is being held. When they slip into the room, Zayn nudges him over towards the bar because Zayn thinks they could both do with a drink before they start their deception.

"Only two more of these and we can go find a dark corner to make out in," Niall says cheerfully when he's got a pint in his hand.

"Might have to if this goes horribly wrong," Zayn mutters. He's already spotted his cousin and his wife and he's scouring the room to find his mum and dad.

"Okay," Niall says and he places his pint down on the bar. He takes Zayn's bottle out of his hands and puts it on the bar too before he steps forward into Zayn's space, forcing Zayn back until he's pressing against the bar and Niall's hands are bracketing him. Niall grins up at him before he darts forward and to Zayn's utter surprise, Niall presses his lips to Zayn's neck.

"Fuck," Zayn swears, his hands automatically coming up to push Niall away but Niall's not sinking his teeth into Zayn's skin like he's expecting. Niall's lips, warm and soft, are pressing tiny kisses just above the collar of Zayn's shirt and Zayn finds himself tilting his head to the side to give Niall better access. His hands fist around Niall's jacket and Niall nibbles gently at his unshaven jaw.

"See, not so hard is it?" Niall murmurs.

"Dunno, keep kissing me and we'll see," Zayn mutters which makes Niall lift his head before he starts laughing. Zayn manages a grin but hell, he must be in desperate need of getting laid because he really _is_ half-hard and he hadn't even thought about the embarrassment factor here. He knows it's just Niall touching and kissing him and it's not real, but his dick is a whole different matter. His dick is clearly touch-starved and if anyone will understand it's Niall, but still. It's embarrassing.

Which is when he lifts his head and catches his mum's eye. She's making her way towards him, his dad trailing behind and she's clearly trying to appear calm and natural but he knows she'll be dying to meet his 'date'.

"We've been spotted," Zayn murmurs which has Niall straightening up and turning around, his hand unerringly sliding into Zayn's as he grins cheerfully at Trisha and Yaser.

Zayn watches it register on their faces; the surprise, the shock, the confusion. This is it, he thinks miserably. His mum is going to laugh at them and tell them to stop fooling around.

"Niall!" Trisha says as she finally reaches them, and there's nothing but pure pleasure written all over her face. "How lovely to see you!"

"Trisha, you look beautiful as always," Niall says because he really is very good with parents. He lets go of Zayn's hand when he gives Trisha a hug and Zayn hovers next to his dad, feeling awkward and embarrassed until his dad pulls him into a hug.

"Alright son?" his dad asks. There's an underlying question there because Zayn can hear it, but it's full of concern and nothing else.

"Yeah, I'm good dad," Zayn murmurs before they pull apart and Zayn flushes. "You know Niall."

"Nice to see you again sir," Niall says, offering his hand. Zayn lets them shake on it as his mum smothers him in a huge hug that defies her tiny size.

"You've been keeping secrets," she whispers in his ear but she sounds- fuck, she sounds _happy_.

"Good secrets, I hope," Zayn tries. His heart is pounding painfully loudly.

"Of course," Trisha tells him before she steps back and slides into Yaser's side. Zayn desperately reaches for Niall's hand, his entire world spinning on its axis until he feels Niall's fingers entwine with his. "So Niall, are you looking after my son?"

Zayn lets out a groan but Niall just laughs and slings his arm around Zayn's shoulders. "Of course. Don't I always?"

"Muuuum," Zayn whines.

"Okay, okay," Trisha says with a laugh, lifting up her hand in surrender. "We'll let you two mingle. But come find us later, okay?"

"We will," Niall promises.

Yaser pulls Trisha away to Zayn's utter relief and he sags into Niall, his arms around Niall's waist as he tries to remember how to breathe.

"Told ya," Niall says smugly. "Piece of cake. They're totally fooled."

"Isn't that weird though?" Zayn asks, his voice muffled because he's got his face buried into the lapel of Niall's very nice navy blue suit. "Like, shouldn't it have taken a _bit_ more effort to convince them?"

"They're clearly desperate to have me as a son-in-law," Niall teases him. "Your sisters are probably in the loos, crying their eyes out. But it's alright because I'd pick you over them any day."

"Hey," Zayn says, feeling mildly offended on his sisters' behalf while also feeling stupidly pleased. "What's wrong with my sisters?"

"Nothing, they're lovely," Niall assures him and Zayn can see he's trying really hard not to laugh. "But you know. You're you. No competition really."

"You're such a dick," Zayn mumbles because he's suddenly feeling shy. He leans in and brushes his cheek against Niall's, an old habit from years past. He knows Niall's pale skin is going to turn pink and Niall will probably curse him for the rest of the night, but it's comforting to fall back into something familiar because nothing about this day has felt normal.

"Yeah but you love me anyway," Niall reminds him. Like Zayn needs a reminder.

Zayn slides his hand into Niall's and he picks up his drink, waiting for Niall to grab his own pint. "You heard my mum. Let's go mingle."

"Ace, I love mingling," Niall says happily. "Don't forget to like, feel me up though. Because we're boyfriends and you're not moping anymore."

"I'll try and remember," Zayn says dryly. He gives Niall's hand a squeeze though. "Come on then. Let's go find my heartbroken sisters."

*

Zayn's not sure how they ended up on the dancefloor, arms wrapped around each other as they shuffle along out of sync with Shania Twain and mostly giggling into each other's necks, but he thinks it might have something to do with a combination of his mum shoving them onto the dancefloor, the six bottles of beer he's had and the ten pints Niall's sunk.

Oh yeah, and Niall's hands are very firmly and very visibly on his arse.

"Don't think anyone thinks I'm pining after Pez anymore," Zayn whispers into Niall's ear.

He giggles when Niall gives his bum a squeeze. He's _so_ drunk.

"We should probably go make out somewhere, just to make sure," Niall tells him very solemnly. His eyes are dancing with laughter though and Niall's waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Zayn leans in and presses a sloppy, wet kiss against Niall's cheek. "There," Zayn says happily. "You're the best boyfriend ever, Nialler."

He sees Niall's bright grin before he finds himself being twirled around, the room spinning around him for a scary, beautiful moment. Then he's back in Niall's arms and being dipped. He ends up clinging to Niall's arms desperately as he tries to keep his balance and Niall's giggling as he hops around on one foot trying to keep them both upright and somehow Zayn finds his feet again. He throws his arms around Niall's neck and holds on for dear life, shaking with silent laughter.

"Always wanted to do that," Niall tells him and it just makes Zayn laugh harder. "Harder than I thought it'd be, though."

Zayn leans back but he keeps his arms locked around Niall. He hums happily when Niall's hands settle on his hips and they try and find the beat again. For professional singers, they're really terrible at this stuff.

"So, where do you wanna go make out?" Niall asks. He starts spinning Zayn around in a slow circle, pointing out areas that he thinks would make prime make out spots.

"Niall, we're not making out," Zayn tells him. He tries to ignore the tiny shiver of regret that glides over his skin. "No one expects us to make out."

"Two young lads who've only recently gotten together?" Niall points out, disbelief colouring his tone. And okay, maybe Niall's got a small point. "They're lucky we aren't shagging on the bar, mate."

"Pez and I never really did the whole PDA thing around my family," Zayn says in a smaller voice than he intends to. "It's just. Not a thing we did."

Niall sighs and he lifts a hand to stroke through Zayn's hair. Zayn leans into it and lets himself feel the familiar, old pain for a moment before he packs it tightly away. It helps when Niall presses his cheek against Zayn's and hugs him tightly.

"I'd kiss you all the time if we were really dating," Niall murmurs. "Wouldn't be able to keep my hands off you." As if to make his point, Niall's hand's tighten on his hips.

"That's because you're a horny bastard," Zayn points out, keeping his voice low.

"That, plus you're really fit," Niall says matter-of-factly and Zayn feels a warm ball of _something_ in his belly. "And you're amazing."

"I'm a pathetic loser whose fiancée walked out on him," Zayn says but it doesn't hurt as much as it usually does when he thinks about Perrie.

"Fuck off," Niall says. He sounds fierce and protective and Zayn cuddles closer, pleased when Niall's arms tighten around him. "All the more reason why we should go make fools of ourselves. I promise not to put my hand down your trousers though if that helps."

Zayn snorts at that. "What's the point then?"

Niall's mouth curves into a wickedly sinful grin that makes Zayn feel a little off-balance. He hopes it's the beer. "Well, since you asked," Niall mutters and Zayn finds himself being dragged across the floor and out the door. Zayn waves at a few relatives who are very definitely laughing at him he realises with a slight scowl before they're outside in the freezing cold and Niall just keeps walking. They're somewhere in the middle of the estate's gardens and Niall stops in front of a wall that shields them from the rest of the party.

"Niall, it's fucking freezing out here," Zayn says. He's stating the obvious but sometimes he has to with these idiots.

Niall ignores him. "How drunk are you?"

"Drunk enough that I got on the dancefloor to Shania Twain," Zayn grumbles, folding his arms over his chest and huffing loudly. "If you ever tell Harry we did that, I'm going to kill you."

"Zayn," Niall says and he sounds tired suddenly. "Are you drunk?"

And he finds himself being pressed back against the wall, Niall's thighs bracketing his and Niall's palms flat against the wall either side of his head.

"No," Zayn says as clearly as he can. "Why did you bring me out here, Niall?"

"You said something about my hands down your pants," Niall says and there's a hint of laughter in his voice. But there's also something else. A question, maybe.

"I thought the point of all this was to convince my family," Zayn murmurs. "We're the only ones here."

"Some things are private," Niall tells him. And yeah, that's Niall's hips pressing into Zayn's.

Zayn mostly wants to laugh in relief because it's not just him. Thank fuck it's not just him.

"You promised me kissing," Zayn says, and he doesn't even try to hide the glee in his voice. "Making out. And hand jobs. I'm pretty sure you offered hand jobs."

"If you're drunk I'm going to kill you," Niall tells him before he swoops in and presses his mouth against Zayn's in a fierce, overly-enthusiastic kiss. Zayn kisses him back and tangles his hands in Niall's hair and it should be weird to be kissing Niall but it's not.

It's _not_.

"Not drunk," he mumbles into Niall's mouth because he thinks it's worth repeating.

"Good," Niall mutters before his tongue darts into Zayn's mouth and his hands are suddenly on Zayn's fly.

"Fuck," Zayn curses but his hips rock up helplessly while Niall fumbles with his zip. The kiss turns sloppy as Niall finally gets his hand in Zayn's trousers and Zayn lets out a long, stuttering string of curse words as Niall's hand closes around his dick, his achingly, painfully hard dick.

It's over embarrassingly quickly as Zayn whimpers into Niall's shoulder when he comes and then it's a fight between them to get Niall's trousers undone and Zayn returns the favour.

It's not until they're breathing heavily into each other's mouths, not kissing but their lips brushing together every so often, their trousers undone and their hands slick and sticky with each other's come that Zayn starts giggling. He laughs as the utter ridiculousness of their situation hits him and he laughs while he tries to wipe his hand clean on the wall. Niall's using a leaf on his own dirty hand and it's _ridiculous_.

"We're doing this again," Niall tells him between giggles. "Because that didn't reflect well on either of us."

There's that tone again. The hint of a question that's well disguised but Zayn can hear it loud and clear.

"Liam's gonna kill us, you know," Zayn says slowly because maybe he's got questions of his own.

"Louis will throw an absolute fit," Niall agrees. He balls the leaf up and throws it over the wall before he fastens his fly and Zayn does the same.

"Harry will be the worst," Zayn says on a groan.

"Definitely," Niall agrees. "Needy bastard."

"Maybe we shouldn't tell them," Zayn hedges.

"Probably not," Niall says. Then he slides his sticky, dirty hand into Zayn's and grins at him. "They might guess though, when I start snogging you in front of them."

Zayn's cheeks heat up and he can't even imagine that happening, but he pulls Niall in for a cuddle and rubs his cheek against Niall's. "Yeah, they might figure it out when you do that."

"Possibly not though," Niall says thoughtfully. His hands are running up and down Zayn's spine and urging him closer. Zayn's happy to oblige. "You know what they're like."

Zayn hums thoughtfully. "So this is a thing. Like a proper thing. Between us."

"Yeah," Niall says quietly. "I mean. It has been a thing. For me. For a while."

Zayn blinks at that little confession. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," Niall says softly.

Zayn takes half a step back so he can cup Niall's face with his hands. "You wanna come back into the party with me and sit on my lap, or I can sit on yours, and we can make out and hold hands and let my parents see how happy I am?"

"Yeah," Niall murmurs. "Fuck yes."

"We'll figure out the rest tomorrow, yeah?" Zayn knows there's a lot they have to talk about. When they've not been drinking and when they've had time to figure out how the hell they're going to do this.

But for now, they walk back into the hall hand-in-hand after a quick detour to the loos to clean themselves up and sneak a few more kisses in that have left a telling pink hue to Niall's cheeks, and when Niall drops into a chair, he pulls Zayn easily into his lap. Zayn lets his head drop onto Niall's shoulder for a moment and they just sit there in silence for a few minutes, watching Zayn's cousins doing the Macarena on the dancefloor, their hands linked together.

"So they do know how to do the Macarena in Bradford then," Niall says, breaking the silence.

Zayn breaks into a grin as he spots his parents making their way over to them and he simply shifts so he's sitting more upright in Niall's lap but he makes no move to get up. This is different, he reminds himself as Niall's hand settles on his thigh possessively. He sneaks a quick kiss from Niall before his parents reach them and he might flush but he settles back comfortably against Niall's chest and he welcomes his parents with a genuinely happy smile.

"You two look like you've had a good night," Trisha says as she gracefully sinks into a chair that Yaser pulls out for her.

"Pretty good, yeah," Niall says.

"Amazing," Zayn corrects him. "It's been amazing."

"Yeah," Niall agrees. He squeezes Zayn's thigh. "Amazing. Now tell me how all your cousins know how to do the fucking Macarena and yet every time we do it on stage, you look like a blank zombie."

"Dunno what you're talking about," Zayn says cheerfully. And he smacks his hand over Niall's mouth before he can say anything else. "Shut up Niall."

"Yes dear," Niall says dutifully.

And it's different, this thing between them. Zayn loves it already.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Follow the Sun (Podfic)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12230967) by [auroreanrave](https://archiveofourown.org/users/auroreanrave/pseuds/auroreanrave)




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